Phil Elverum

Microphones in 2020 is the fifth studio album by American indie rock band the Microphones. It is the Microphones' first release in 17 years, following 2003's Mount Eerie. It was released on August 7, 2020, on frontman Phil Elverum's record label P.W. Elverum & Sun. Microphones in 2020 is a concept album comprised of one 44-minute song describing Elverum's life and musical career. The album was written and recorded entirely by Elverum. Its release was accompanied by a short film consisting of 761 printed photos taken by Elverum, which Elverum described as "lyric video…a slideshow, a powerpoint presentation, a flip book and a documentary". Upon its announcement, fans and music publications were interested by the fact that the album was credited to the Microphones and not to Mount Eerie, under which name Elverum had released most of his music since 2004. The album received widespread critical acclaim.

Now Only, written shortly following the release of A Crow Looked At Me and the first live performances of those songs, is a deeper exploration of that style of candid, undisguised lyrical writing. It portrays Elverum’s continuing immersion in the strange reality of Geneviève’s death, chronicling the evolution of his relationship to her and her memory, and of the effect the artistic exploration of his grief has had on his own life. The scope of Now Only encompasses not only hospitals and deathbeds, but also a music festival, childhood memories of conversations with Elverum’s mother, profound paintings and affecting artworks he encounters, a documentary about Jack Kerouac, and most significantly, memories of his life with Geneviève. These moments and thoughts resonate with each other, creating a more complex and nuanced picture of mourning and healing. The power of these songs comes not from the small, sharp moments of cutting phrases or shocks, but the echoes that weave the songs together, the way a life is woven.

Mount Eerie will release an album in march, with songs written as a reaction to Phil Elverum's wife's death. 'According to a press release, Elverum's writing on the album was inspired by Karl Ove Knausgård, Julie Doiron, Gary Snyder, Sun Kil Moon, and Joanne Kyger (whose poem “Night Palace” is used in the cover art).